Eldritch
by Dismal Ways
Summary: The stars make for a great and terrible master, Harry. When they reward you gain so much, but lose even more." Post-OotP, AU.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, if you think I do, get off the drugs.**

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**Eldritch**

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_"When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live. But although They no longer lived, They would never really die." ~ HP Lovecraft_

**Prologue**

**--A cool November night, 1996--**

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Harry lay against the cold stones of some hidden rooftop of Hogwarts castle, curled in his thick cloak as he gazed upwards at the vast expanse of merrily twinkling stars. For several weeks now Harry had felt himself drawn to the night sky in a way he had not experienced since before his Hogwarts days. Back when he had been a lonely child who had imagined the constellations speaking to him in the soothing tones of parental figures.

When he had come to Hogwarts his nightly routine of looking at the stars had dropped away in favour of completing his homework and spending time with his human friends, not to mention the many life threatening situations he had met, though he did have the occasional chance during astronomy to star gaze. However the class was mostly theory and these chances were few and far between.

This year however, he would sometimes spend entire nights there, staring and staring. Scrutinizing the stars as if looking for their deepest, darkest secrets. No one mentioned the bags that deepened under Harry's eyes each day, perhaps passing them off as nightmares and sleepless nights caused by the death of his Godfather, Sirius Black. Though there was honest worry in the eyes of Ron, Hermione and his other friends, even some of the teachers.

Truth be told, there was not much Harry thought about anymore, his mind was either focused on getting through whatever activity he currently was meant to be going through, homework, eating, socializing, etcetera. Or upon the dark skies of the witching hour and beyond.

This night the stars seemed especially bright and cheerful, caressing Harry with their soft light. There was a specific patch of stars his gaze seemed to focus on unconsciously, without provocation. Something about those stars was important, unique, in a way only he could find.

Harry wondered if he may just be going insane, looking for hidden meaning in the skies, wasting good time he could spend sleeping or catching up on school work, or even studying to defeat Voldemort. But he could just as soon pull himself away from the stars as he could separate Dumbledore from his lemon drops.

A cool lazy breeze picked up around the absent minded teen, whistling through the towers of the old castle and creating all kinds of interesting moans and creaks. And it was amongst this wind that Harry heard the voice of the stars again for the first time since childhood.

The words were like ethereal spiders crawling into his ears and nesting in his brain, vibrating throughout his mind _'Hello child.' _

'Andromeda,' whispered Harry, the name of the speaking constellation coming to him without a thought, his mind seemed to slow to a crawl, he gave no notice to his fists clenching tight, nor of the dark blood that had begun to trickle from his eyes and ears. And then the world fell away beneath him. At least that's how it felt at first perhaps he was rising away from it instead?

Whatever the case it mattered not, as his bleeding went from a trickle to a torrent Harry met the stars and danced among them. He was zooming through the dark spaces between them, leaving a trail of blood behind him, the stars reach out with flickering flames to caress at him, white, blue, yellow, red, all stars welcomed him. He accepted each burning caress graciously, feeling at home.

_'Save us Harry,'_ whispered Andromeda. And suddenly he stopped moving, the stars faded away, and he floated alone in the vast darkness, the stars were entirely gone now. There was just nothing for what seemed like forever.

Until a giant rift began to open in front of him, seemingly blinking rapidly before reaching fullness, it was a star, but it was also a eye, a malevolent, angry eye that stared at him with indifference and hatred at once. Harry's mind began to fracture, this was too much, none of this should be possible, he was safe, lying back on the rooftops of Hogwarts, he had just drifted off to sleep, that was all.

The eye seemed to shrug carelessly and shut closed suddenly. There was a sudden gust of wind, melting hot. Harry was blasted backwards as he burned, mind, body and soul. He retreated back into his mind and everything faded away, only pain remained.

Suddenly pulling in a large gasping breath, feeling like it had been hours since his lungs were filled, Harry found himself staring up at the sky again, lying against the same cold of Hogwarts castle. He wondered if he would ever recover from this experience as he giggled disjointedly to himself, there was dried blood in his hair and running down his cheeks that his hot tears soon mixed with.

He curled into a broken fetal position, continuing to giggle maniacally, staying that way for many hours, as his mind attempted and failed again and again to heal.

****

The students of Hogwarts made their way to the great hall for the morning meal, the smells wafting from the hall drew even the most sleepy students onward. Promising the incredible cooking of the Hogwarts house elves.

While the other students woke themselves with coffee and food, Ron and Hermione worried, though Harry had been spending many a sleepless night lately he always met them in the common room before breakfast, but this morning he had been nowhere to be found, his bed obviously not slept in.

Just as they stepped through the entrance hall and made way for the great hall hoping to find their wayward friend sitting at the Gryffindor table chowing down, a shrill scream came from behind the friends. Twisting around quickly, hands going for wands automatically they met the sight of the one they'd been searching for.

"Hello friends!" greeted Harry in a hysterically cheerful voice, waving at them happily, his eyes twinkling brightly like the stars from beneath his bangs. Blood, blood in his hair, on his cheeks. Harry was covered in blood. What looked like scratches from human finger nails crisscrossed his face and arms.

"Harry," gasped Hermione, her eyes tearful, this was wrong, very wrong, the happiness her friend expressed clashing with his physical state and the quiet insanity in his eyes.

Ron was already moving to his friend, putting an arm around his shoulders and guiding him from the hall "C'mon mate, let's get you to the hospital wing." the red head's face was drained of all colour, but he stayed strong for his friends, leading Harry steadily as their bushy haired friend trailed behind.

****

Albus Dumbledore was downright afraid for his favorite student. Though Dumbledore did not believe in favoritism he had seen Harry through too much to stop himself, the boy was the closest thing he had to a grandson. As he walked into the Hospital wing he was met with the familiar sight he had feared to find, a madly grinning Harry, eyes twinkling away.

'Why did this have to happen to you m'boy?' he thought despondently. He was certain the boys friends would've been sitting with him if the mediwitch had not sent them away.

The ever bustling Poppy Pomphrey, Hogwarts' mediwitch made her way to him. "I don't understand it Albus, he's covered in scratches caused by his own hand and yet he just keeps grinning away like a madman, I'd strongly suggest a professional psychological evaluation."

"That will be fine Poppy, however I would like a moment to speak with the boy." the mediwitch saw the pure concern in the aging Headmaster's eyes and trusted that he may know better about this situation than her, she went to her office, leaving Albus and the grinning boy alone.

Albus took a seat at Harry's bedside, Harry just sat and stared, his grin never faltering. Twinkling eyes met twinkling eyes as Dumbledore spoke, "There is much terrible power in the stars is there not Harry? I wish you had not been chosen by them."

Harry's grin faltered and a sliver of his true feelings shone through his face, "Sir, what's happened to me?"

"Why Harry, you've gone quite mad, the stars quite like their servants to be so. I should know, I've gone through the same thing myself." Albus smiled kindly at the messy haired teen, though it didn't quite reach his eyes that so matched Harry's own.

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_A/N: Second of my fic ideas, the third I think may be a Naruto fanfiction coming soon, review if you like this idea!_


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